Telemedicine supported by Augmented Reality: an interactive guide for untrained people in performing an ECG test

Abstract

BackgroundIn many telemedicine applications, the correct use of medical device at the point of need is essential to provide an appropriate service. Some applications may require untrained people to interact with medical devices and patients: care delivery in transportation, military actions, home care and telemedicine training.Appropriate operation of medical device and correct connection with patient’s body are crucial. In these scenarios, tailored applications of Augmented Reality can offer a valid support by guiding untrained people at the point of need. This study aims to explore the feasibility of using Augmented Reality in telemedicine applications, by facilitating an acceptable use of biomedical equipment by any unskilled person. In particular, a prototype system was built in order to estimate how untrained users, with limited or no knowledge, can effectively interact with an ECG device and properly placing ECG electrodes on patient’s chest.MethodsAn Augmented Reality application was built to support untrained users in performing an ECG test. Simple markers attached to the ECG device and onto patient’s thorax allow camera calibration. Once objects and their pose in the space are recognized, the video of the current scene is enriched, in real-time, with additional pointers, text boxes and audio that help the untrained operator to perform the appropriate sequence of operations. All the buttons, switches, ports of the ECG device together with the location of precordial leads were coded and indicated. Some user’s voice commands were also included to improve usability.ResultsTen untrained volunteers, supported by the augmented reality, were able to carry out a complete ECG test first on a mannequin and then on a real patient in a reasonable time (about 8 minutes on average). Average positioning errors of precordial electrodes resulted less than 3 mm for the mannequin and less than 7 mm for the real patient. These preliminary findings suggest the effectiveness of the developed application and the validity of clinical ECG recordings.ConclusionThis application can be adapted to support the use of other medical equipment as well as other telemedicine tasks and it could be performed with a Tablet or a Smartphone.

Augmented reality and mixed reality for healthcare education beyond surgery: an integrative review

“…53 Nearly one-third of all studies (n=8) either had no evaluation tool or did not report any validity of the instrument used. [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] The qualitative study involved semi-structured face-toface interviews that explored the needs and challenges of applying AR for healthcare education. The study demonstrated a detailed clarity and rigor according to the individual AQRAME score of all three authors corresponding to 12 (JG), 11.5 (CBS), and 12 (PD).…”

“…41,47,48 Eight studies implemented headmounted display. 27,28,38,40,[43][44][45][46] Two studies utilized the same head-mounted display. 40,43 The head-mounted display-integrated applications had marker-based recognition in four of the studies.…”

“…40,43 The head-mounted display-integrated applications had marker-based recognition in four of the studies. 28,40,43,44 One study recognized the hands and gestures of a mentor projecting these into in the trainee's display. 46 Two studies implemented a foot pedal to interact with the application.…”

“…30,31 Four studies recognized a virtual model registered with a phantom characterized as MR. 27,[50][51][52] Eleven studies reported using external cameras and tracking devices. 27,28,31,32,34,36,44,[50][51][52] Two studies used applications based on projectors, one recognizing markers on a phantom, and one projecting images directly onto a phantom without using a tracking device. 29,51…”

Posibilidades De Utilización De La Geolocalización Y Realidad Aumentada en El Ámbito Educativo

“…En la investigación las aportaciones han surgido desde diferentes áreas, esto conecta con la idea sobre la RA indicada en muchos ámbitos, y compartimos con Kaufmann, Schmalstieg y Wagner (2000) que esta técnica viene a apoyar la explicación de contenidos complejos propios de las matemáticas y geometría, por ejemplo a través de mediciones virtuales (Figura 2). No obstante destacamos la novedad y el enriquecimiento instrumental en las tareas en general, que implica el trabajo sobre contenidos reales con la información virtual superpuesta, y que ya tiene uso directo en campos vitales para el desarrollo como la telemedicina (Bifulco, et al, 2014). Esta técnica también parece ser útil cuando se requiere una interacción con usuarios que desconocen un determinado aspecto, así Zhu et al (2014) destacan cómo las aplicaciones RA pueden ofrecer un apoyo valioso incluso con personas no preparadas previamente, observando y respetando los protocolos de funcionamiento.…”